My "Other" Workplace

In my previous post, I've shown you my workplace where I do my drawings. Well, the picture above is my "other" workplace. This is where I do my schoolwork. As you all may know I, along with my sisters are homeschoolers. This is our office. We study here everyday.

This was my "other...other" workplace. This was when I was in 5th grade. This was me then.

The Escalator

Did you know that the first escalator was simply a moving wooden stairway?

The first escalator was invented by a man named Jesse Reno. It was patented in the year 1892. It was made of wood and because it was new to the people, many were afraid to use it. There was an attendant at the top that gave smelling salts to the ladies and gentlemen that were overcome by the experience. To ride the earliest escalators, you had to pay a fee!

This is one of the early Reno escalators.
Isn't it cool?

I learned this on a book I read recently.

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The History of Velcro

Did you know that "velcro" was first thought up in the Swiss Mountains?

The fastener you probably know as Velcro is a hook-and-loop fastener. In 1948, a Swiss mountaineer of the name George de Mestral was on a hike in the mountains, as often as it happens, he was annoyed by the thistles and cockleburs that clung to his pants and socks.
While picking them off, he had an idea. He thought it might be possible to make a fastener that worked in the same way as the burs and thistles. Mestral called his invention "Locking Tape." Later, he came up with the name Velcro. "Vel," for the first syllable of "velvet," was combined with "cro," from the first syllable of the word "crochet."

This is how it looks like from a microscopic viewpoint.

I learned this from a book I read a few years ago.